According to Casely-Hayford, the Auditor General does not need such powers since the Attorney General’s office is already mandated to handle such cases.

[contextly_sidebar id=”dpQzeu0Wbwku0xeUZkzJfIp18JMHEKX3″]David Domelevo at a press conference on the back of revelations from a 2016 audit of the finances of the various ministries, departments and agencies, which revealed that some state agencies engaged in unlawful monetary practices, said “…if a fiat is given by the Attorney General to Audit Service just like it has been given to the police and others to prosecute…which I have actually applied for, you will see me in action.”

But Sydney Casely-Hayford stated that it would not be wise for the State Auditor to take up the mandate of the Attorney General and other agencies which already have prosecutorial powers.

His views contradict those of his Occupy Ghana colleague, Ace Ankomah, who backed the Auditor General’s request.

According to Ace Ankomah, this request, when granted, will empower the Auditor General to not only surcharge corrupt officials but also prosecute them.

“Right now, his powers are limited to disallowing and surcharging, but if you read the reports from the Auditor General from over the years, you will weep at the blatant theft, the falsification of certificates, the fraudulent practices in the Auditor General’s report,” he said on Eyewitness News.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, Casely-Hayford argued that “the Auditor General has a legal department as part of the service which is like an advisory arm to tell him to make sure that he is on the straight and narrow when he is dealing with criminality. What I think is happening is that, he does have a direct conduit to the Attorney General for the Attorney General to actually go and surcharge people as he finds them. So once he’s done his disallowance and he surcharges you, he produces a docket and that docket goes to the Attorney General and the Attorney General will now be the prosecuting arm.”

“I’m sensing that where he’s going now is the pace at which he wants to move is not in tandem with the pace that the Attorney General is putting forward. So he’s getting a bit frustrated that he’s doing all these work and he is not seeing the prosecution coming through as fast as he wants. So he wants to have the opportunity to do them himself so he could actually guide the pace. I don’t think that is the right thing to do. I think that it will develop into a different arm of administration within the audit service and that might not be the best thing. He has EOCO, Attorney General, all of those arms that he can use in order to prosecute his cases. And I’m inclined at this time to think that he does not need to be given prosecutorial powers. He should put a lot more pressure on the AG and expect that the AG will carry it through.”

He argued that, it would be better to strengthen and upgrade the capacity of the Attorney General’s Department to be able to handle more cases presented to it by the Auditor General instead of creating another prosecutorial body.

Surcharge officials  

The Supreme Court in June 2017 ordered the Auditor General to, with immediate effect; begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.

The order was secured after a suit filed by pressure group, Occupy Ghana in June 2016.

62 firms surcharged by Auditor General to cough up nearly Ghc9m

The Auditor General subsequently in December 2017, announced that it has surcharged 62 organisationsfor receiving payments from the state without any documentation as proof.

The surcharge certificates totalling GHc8,886,791.9101742 according to the Auditor General, was for the period between December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2015.

The companies, mostly private organisations, also included some state institutions and staff of some government agencies.

In a release by the Auditor General’s office, it said that efforts to track down the listed companies had been fruitless forcing them to publish their names.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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Daniel Domelevo made the request on the back of revelations from a 2016 audit of the finances of the various ministries, departments and agencies, which revealed that some state agencies engaged in unlawful monetary practices, saying “…if a fiat is given by the Attorney General to Audit Service just like it has been given to the police and others to prosecute…which I have actually applied for, you will see me in action.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”LiQtDWjFs1OLrbsF1p46A6bG95qzKzpC”]According to Ace Ankomah, this request, when granted, will empower the Auditor General to not only surcharge corrupt officials but also prosecute them.

“Right now, his powers are limited to disallowing and surcharging, but if you read the reports from the Auditor General from over the years, you will weep at the blatant theft, the falsification of certificates, the fraudulent practices in the Auditor General’s report.”

“Nobody ever goes to jail for these things because the Auditor General’s office is swarmed. The Police are swarmed. Some of these are technical white collar stuff that is a bit difficult in prosecuting, so he is saying that apart from disallowing and surcharging, give me the power to prosecute…,” the lawyer explained.

The Supreme Court in June 2017 ordered the Auditor General to begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.

The order was secured after a suit filed by pressure group, Occupy Ghana in June 2016.

62 firms surcharged by Auditor General to cough up nearly Ghc9m

The Auditor General subsequently in December 2017, announced that, it had surcharged 62 organisations for receiving payments from the state without any documentation as proof.

The surcharge certificates totalling GHc8,886,791.9101742 according to the Auditor General, was for the period between December 31, 2013, and December 31, 2015.

The companies, mostly private organisations, also included some state institutions and staff of some government agencies.

In a release by the Auditor General’s office, it said that efforts to track down the listed companies had been fruitless forcing them to publish their names.

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Occupy Ghana backs Auditor-General’s request for prosecution powers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Occupy Ghana in the letter argued that, the Registry’s action has no basis in law, and charged the Attorney General to take steps to address the issue since it is a gross violation of the rights of Ghanaians.

“We have however checked that Act and all relevant laws including the Regulations passed under the Act. We have not seen any provision that either supports this policy or gives the Registrars of Births and Deaths any power to refuse to register any name. We believe that this stance is a gross violation of the rights of Ghanaians to choose names (particularly Ghanaian names) as they deem fit for their children, subject to the right to change one’s name at any time later in life,” the letter said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”tAiRrm495jbTqeYMfYXkp6Kzb6jfq6Hy”]Occupy Ghana in the letter, which was also copied to the Local Government Minister, called on the Attorney General to order the Registry to stop such acts, else they will proceed to court within the next 30 days.

“We therefore write to put you on notice, in accordance with section 10 of the State Proceedings Act, 1998 (Act 555), that we intend to commence civil action against the Republic within thirty (30) days of the date of this letter if this illegality is not addressed forthwith,” the letter read.

Background

Persons who wish to register names such as Nana, Naa, Junior and the likes were turned away by the Births and Deaths Registry with a reason that such names are  considered as titles and not names.

The Registrar at the Births and Deaths Registry, John Yao Agbeko, justified the action saying the law governing the Registry’s operations – Act 301 (1965) – gives them the power to undertake such exercise.

“There is a law that regulates the activities of the Births and Deaths registry, that law is the Births and Deaths Registration Act 301 of 1965. In this act we have a function for the Minister to do a regulation. In the regulation, there is a function for the registrar to come out with a mode of operation.”

“So even though you will not read it in the act, the regulation allows the registrar to come out with the mode of operation to manage the place and that is what we have done. That is why if you go to Tamale, the one over there will tell you that you cannot register that name. If you pick that same name and you run to Accra, in order to do same, you will be told you can’t do it,” he explained on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday.

Blacklisting ‘title’ names illegal – Ace Ankomah fumes

A private legal practitioner, and member of Occupy Ghana, Ace Ankomah, had earlier described as illegal the Births and Deaths Registry’s blacklisting of certain names.

Sharing his view on the matter on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, Ace Ankomah said what the Registry is doing “is not in the law, and it is also not in the regulation that was supposed to have been made under the 1965 Act.”

This nonsense must stop!

“What the law says is that, they should have a mode of operation. The Births and Deaths Registry has no power to make law. Having a mode of operation must comply with the law. So if the fundamental law does not give you a certain power, you cannot be claiming that you have written your own mode of operation to make that power to yourself. So it does not exist, it has no legal basis, that nonsense must stop,” he fumed.

Below is the full statement from Occupy Ghana:

The Attorney-General & Minister for Justice

Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department

Accra

Dear Madam,

REFUSAL TO REGISTER NAMES AT THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRY – NOTICE OF ACTION

Our attention has been drawn to the implementation of an alleged policy by the Registrars of the Birth and Death Registry that refuses to register the birth of children whose names include names such as “Maame,” “Pappa,” “Nana,” “Naa,” “Junior,” “Nene,” “Nii” and “Ohemaa” as well as determine the order in which names must be written, giving prominence to foreign names over indigeneous Ghanaian names. The Registrars claim that they are empowered to do this on the basis of the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1965 (Act 301).

We have however checked that Act and all relevant laws including the Regulations passed under the Act. We have not seen any provision that either supports this policy or gives the Registrars of Births and Deaths any power to refuse to register any name. We believe that this stance is a gross violation of the rights of Ghanaians to choose names (particularly Ghanaian names) as they deem fit for their children, subject to the right to change one’s name at any time later in life.

We therefore write to put you on notice, in accordance with section 10 of the State Proceedings Act, 1998 (Act 555), that we intend to commence civil action against the Republic within thirty (30) days of the date of this letter if this illegality is not addressed forthwith.

We however believe that this cause of action will not be necessary if all Registrars of the Births and Deaths Registry will be directed to desist from these acts and stop refusing to register such names as they have no basis in law.

Yours faithfully,

OccupyGhana®

1.      The Minister

Ministry of Local Government

Accra

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Occupy Ghana petitions AG over blacklisted names by Births and Deaths appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the group, the delays with the passage of the Bill, which has been in parliament for almost a decade, were inexcusable.

[contextly_sidebar id=”P41nFDSvBuuI40ExgNT6qwvA4V60q3d8″]Despite extensive work on the Bill by the previous Parliament, they failed to get it over the line before their tenure expired, meaning it has to be relaid before the current Parliament for deliberation and approval.

The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has hinted that the Bill might be passed by July in 2018.

“I want to believe that if we cross this meeting into the meeting of next year, I should think by the close of the second meeting, we should be in the position to have dealt with the RTI Bill,” he said earlier in November.

However, some groups have dismissed this assurance by the government, describing it as mere rhetoric.

Occupy Ghana, which has been strong advocates for the passage of the Right To Information Bill, has called on the government to provide dates on when it will “publish and gazette the Bill,”  on when the “bill shall be tabled for debate in Parliament” and finally on when “the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary affairs shall conclude its deliberations on the Bill.”

This, according to the group, will help convince Ghanaians of the commitment of the new administration towards ensuring that the Bill is passed during their tenure.

“Unless and until the law is passed, Ghanaians are entitled to conclude that governments will seek any and every excuse to defer the passage of this law for as long as possible,” a statement from Occupy Ghana said.

The first attempt at enacting the law on the right to information was made when the Bill was presented to Parliament on February 5, 2010.

The bill has been in Parliament since for nearly a decade,but its passage has evaded Ghanaians amid promises from successive governments.

Below is the full statement from Occupy Ghana:

1TH NOVEMBER 2017
OCCUPYGHANA® PRESS STATEMENT
OCCUPYGHANA® DEMANDS OUTLINE FOR PASSAGE OF THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION BILL

OccupyGhana® is deeply concerned that there do not appear to be any clear or discernible plans to pass the Right to Information Bill into law. Despite numerous Government assurances that the Bill will be passed “this year,” “very soon” or in the “next session” of Parliament, no clear timetable has emerged.

The inexcusably long delay by successive governments under the Fourth Republican Constitution to pass this law suggests to us that governments are simply afraid to pass a law that will help actualise a right that the Constitution has already given to Ghanaians. Unless and until the law is passed, Ghanaians are entitled to conclude that governments will seek any and every excuse to defer the passage of this law for as long as possible.

OccupyGhana® is gratified that the courts have held that the right to information does not require an Act of Parliament to be exercised. Yet there remain substantive and procedural impediments to the exercise of this right. The current ‘default’ position of government departments is to either refuse or simply not answer any request for information. This forces citizens to go to court every time they seek to exercise that right. This is unacceptable and has to be addressed to ensure a straightforward and low cost system for the public to be able to enforce requests for information.

OccupyGhana® therefore demands from the government and Parliament, a clear timetable for the passage of this law. This timetable should take cognisance of the commendable public engagement process for the Office of Special Prosecutor Bill, and set firm dates by which:

1. the government will publish and gazette the Bill;
2. the Bill shall be tabled for debate in Parliament and
3. the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary affairs shall conclude its deliberations on the Bill.

OccupyGhana® expects that the Bill, when passed into law, will set out the clear parameters and instances where the government will exercise public interest privilege (this is the privilege that allows government to refuse the disclosure of a document or information which is against the public interest.) The current wide-bound interpretation of the government on this privilege is, in our view, the greatest substantive and procedural hurdle to the full realisation of the right to information. Any law that does not deal with this matter in a manner that eases the right to information would be worthless and not have been worth the wait.

OccupyGhana® proposes that the mechanism of a truly Independent Commissioner with the power to determine disputes over public interest privilege would be the single most straightforward means of resolving any current impasse over this issue. An Information Commissioner using a highly simplified and swift process with limited scope for hearings and procedural delays would address concerns about the conflict between public disclosure and privilege. Any disputes over the Commissioner’s determination may be resolved by the Court, on narrow grounds akin to judicial review.

In conclusion, the continued delay in passing this Bill, which is now 18 years old, cannot and should not be accepted one jot further by the Ghanaian people.

Yours, for God & Country,

OccupyGhana®

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The 13, who were charged with rioting, walked free after paying GHc 1,800 each, and signing a bond to be of good behaviour for 12 months.

[contextly_sidebar id=”qlRpdhmvEVz8QJaCRn28oC4WWEAqXVhI”]”…If they feel the fines are not big enough, then the AG could appeal against not the conviction, but the sentencing; the amount of the fine, to give another court the opportunity to review,” Mr. Ankomah opined on Eyewitness News.

He stressed that, such a course of action would be important because the NPP government “must send a message to Ghanaians that it will not tolerate impunity.”

The government has been criticized for its relaxed approach against the acts of lawlessness from elements within its party.

The Delta Force case was viewed as the perfect avenue for the government to send a strong message to such acts, especially during the first court appearance of the 13, where escaped from lawful custody, after eight of their compatriots sparked confusion in the court in protest of the Judge’s ruling that the 13 be remanded and not given bail.

The Delta Force members suspected to have stormed the court were arrested but set free for supposed lack of evidence.

Ace Ankomah described that incident as worse than the Montie Three who threatened the lives of Supreme Court Justices, landing themselves four-month jail sentences.

“Storming the court to free people who are on trial is worse than sitting on radio and threatening the court. It is worse, so we expect that the system will treat it with the seriousness that it requires, but as it turns out, all we are left with is feeling high and dry.”

“It feeds the perception that if your government is in power, somehow, you can get away with such acts,” the lawyer added. We warned further that, such occurrences “are emboldening more people to storm a police station to free somebody who has been arrested, to storm a DCE’s Office to scare the person out of office.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post AG can appeal Delta Force 13 fines – Ace Ankomah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The items comprised 16 cartons of all types of intravenous fluids, 400 pieces of intravenous sets, 400 pieces of different intravenous cannulas, antibiotics in intravenous and oral forms including Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Cefuroxime , antimalarials like Artemether Inj, Artesunate Lumefantrine in tablet and suspension forms.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Vyqvr7k8gnckfUq93gXx8Rv934xlsPsb”]They rest are analgesics including Paracetamol in tablet and syrup forms, Ibuprofen in tablets and syrup forms, Diclofenac in injection and tablet forms, oral rehydration salts, blood tonics and vitamins, antibiotic eye drops, 3 cartons of Chlorine bleach, dressings including gauzes, plasters, cotton wool, bandages, syringes, needles and examination gloves.

Donating the items to the Sierra Leonean High Commissioner to Ghana, Justice Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh, a member of OccupyGhana, Sydney Casely-Hayford, said that the catastrophic events of August 14 saddened most people across the continent and that the gesture was not only humane, but also a reflection of the old bond that existed between the two countries.

“In times like these, no nation or society should stand alone, for such pain and suffering touches not only the people of Sierra Leone but all of humanity. Also, to a Ghanaian, Sierra Leone is not just another country but a nation with whom we share a strong bond that dates back over a 100 years. “, Mr. Casely-Hayford said.

Casely-Hayford was accompanied by members of the pressure group including, Dr. Radha Hackman and Kwaku Segbefia.

In her heartfelt remarks as she received the donation,the High Commissioner expressed the appreciation of the people of Sierra Leone to OccupyGhana, adding that she had been overwhelmed by the level of support from the government and people of Ghana in the aftermath of the tragic disaster in Regent, Sierra Leone.

“The relationship between Ghana and Sierra Leone is second to none in the West Region. The relationship has spanned centuries and we can only continue to pray that the ties will flourish and develop from strength to strength,” she said.

She marveled at the timeliness of the donation since she and her staff had been discussing ways of acquiring medical supplies for her country.

She explained that a medical disaster was highly possible since the mountains near Regent were the source of drinking water for all of Freetown.

She pointed out that, it was feared that, that source was probably contaminated by all the dead bodies and that the contamination could lead to spread of water-borne diseases. She pointed out that the donated supplies would go a long way in helping to combat any such medical calamity.

“This is a great humanitarian gesture which only a sister or brother can do for another sister or brother,” she added.

The mudslides have claimed close to a 1,000 lives and has made over 4000 Sierra Leoneans homeless. The country, which is trying to recover from the scourge of Ebola not too long ago, needs all the help it can get.

This comes on the back of Citi FM’s donation to that country some few weeks ago.

The station received clothing, student mattresses, shoes, blankets among others from its listeners, and handed it over to the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) for onward distribution in Sierra Leone.

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post OccupyGhana supports Sierra Leone with medical supplies appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The seven-member panel of justices, presided over by incoming Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, did not give reasons for their judgment but indicated that they will make available the full details of the decision in a few hours.

The order of the court follows a suit filed by pressure group, Occupy Ghana in June 2016, seeking an order directing the Auditor-General to issue disallowances and surcharges to and in respect of all persons and entities found in relevant, successive reports to have engaged in misappropriation of state funds.

[contextly_sidebar id=”B2MM7GpdJPjYJeqSZCRDhQqicLs1TCTA”]Occupy Ghana had explained that it sued the Auditor General for refusing to surcharge persons who are said to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state to the tune of over GHc40 billion.

Occupy Ghana in 2014 wrote a letter to the Auditor General reminding it to surcharge such persons or face them in court.

A statement issued by the pressure group said, it filed a case against the two Generals at the Supreme Court on Wednesday [June 22, 2016], because several efforts to ensure that the Auditor General makes such surcharges have proved futile.

The group in the statement said, in November 2014, it wrote a letter, “reminding him [ Auditor-General] of his powers of Disallowance and Surcharge under the Constitution, demanding that he exercises them…Subsequently we engaged several times with the Auditor-General, with a view to assisting in putting in place the structures upon which he would exercise those powers.”

“Regrettably, after a dozen letters and exchanges, and one publicized meeting on 27th March 2015, the Auditor-General has not taken any steps to exercise those powers, which would lead to the recovery of huge sums of money for the State,” the statement added.

Occupy Ghana had prayed the Supreme Court to declare  “that the Auditor-General’s omission, failure, refusal or neglect to issue any Disallowances and Surcharges in respect of the above, and as appears in his successive Reports since the coming into force of the Constitution, violates the Constitution.”

–

By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Retrieve ‘looted’ state cash – Supreme Court orders Auditor General appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Making reference to what it said purports to be the charge sheet in the case of Republic v. En Huang & 4 Others, the pressure group said the offences laid and filed against the suspects did not match the severity of the crime.

[contextly_sidebar id=”r7GiWOttBN2F5pVJTXXK69N7WdHU4en6″]In a statement, OccupyGhana noted that “under the Statements of Offence, the accused persons are charged with the offences of (i) Illegal Employment of Foreign Nationals (in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act and regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations), and (ii) Disobedience of Directive Given (in breach of section 52 of the Immigration Act.)”

But under the particulars of offence, Occupy Ghana pointed out that the first accused person, the now-infamous En ‘Aisha’ Huang, had employed the others to engage in illegal mining. thus all accused persons, being holders of visitors’ visas had disobeyed the condition that required them not to engage in any employment in Ghana.

Thus all accused persons, being holders of visitors’ visas had disobeyed the condition that required them not to engage in any employment in Ghana, of which punishment demands a maximum fine of GH¢12,000 and/or a maximum prison term of two years, under section 52 of the Immigration Act.

This notwithstanding, OccupyGhana said immigration offences laid and filed against the Accused Persons do not match the severity of the act of employing or being employed illegally at a small-scale mining site.

Charges under Mining act more appropriate

The group noted that offences under the Minerals and Mining Act would be more fitting for the severity of the offences.

“From our research, foreigners are absolutely prohibited from engaging in small-scale mining in Ghana. It is, therefore, an offence under section 99 of the Minerals and Mining Act for foreigners to engage in small-scale mining, and offenders attract a fine between GH¢360,000 and GH¢3.6M, and/or a maximum jail term of 20 years.”

Thus, According to the group, if these Accused Persons employed others or were employed to mine illegally, then the immigration charges that have been laid and filed are really minor as compared to what the law provides for in the Minerals and Mining Act.

“We, therefore, Petition your office to call for the docket on this matter, investigate the charges laid and filed, and if found necessary, for fresh, proper, weightier and more relevant charges to be filed or added.”

Find below the full occupy Ghana statement

PETITION TO THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OVER CHARGES LAID AND FILED IN THE CASE OF REPUBLIC V. EN HUANG & 4 OTHERS (CASE NO. CR 344/2017)

OccupyGhana® has seen a copy of what purports to be the Charge Sheet in the case of Republic v. En Huang & 4 Others (Case No. CR 344/2017) and dated 8th May 2017, and a copy is attached for ease of reference.

We note that under the Statements of Offence, the accused persons are charged with the offences of (i) Illegal Employment of Foreign Nationals (in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act and regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations), and (ii) Disobedience of Directive Given (in breach of section 52 of the Immigration Act.)

However, under the Particulars of Offence, we are told that the First Accused Person had employed the other Accused Persons “to work illegally at a small-scale mining site,” and that all the accused persons, being holders of visitors’ visas had also disobeyed the condition that required them “not to engage in any employment in Ghana.”

We are deeply concerned that the immigration offences laid and filed against the Accused Persons do not match the severity of the act of employing or being employed “illegally at a small-scale mining site.” It is true that a person commits an offence if he/she “disobeys or disregards an obligation imposed or directive given by or under [the Immigration] Act.” But the punishment for this offence is a maximum fine of Twelve Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢12,000) and/or a maximum prison term of two (2) years, under section 52 of the Immigration Act. And, unless the law has been changed, regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations provides that an individual who employs a foreigner in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act attracts a penalty of only Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢500) payable to the Immigration Service. It is only upon failure to pay that measly penalty that the person may be taken to court, not for employing a foreigner illegally, but for failure to pay the measly 500 Cedi and upon conviction pay a fine of Four Thousand and Two Hundred Ghana (GH¢4,200) Cedis.

However, from our research, foreigners are absolutely prohibited from engaging in small-scale mining in Ghana. It is therefore an offence under section 99 of the Minerals and Mining Act for foreigners to engage in small scale-mining, and offenders attract a fine between GH¢360,000 and GH¢3.6M, and/or a maximum jail term of 20 years. Further, the equipment used in or associated with the offence and any product derived are to be seized, and are liable to forfeiture by a court order and then allocated to “the appropriate state institution” within 60 days by the Minister responsible for mining.

That is why we are concerned that if these Accused Persons employed others or were employed “to work illegally at a small-scale mining site,” then the immigration charges that have been laid and filed are really minor as compared to what the law provides for in the Minerals and Mining Act.

We therefore Petition your office to call for the docket on this matter, investigate the charges laid and filed, and if found necessary, for fresh, proper, weightier and more relevant charges to be filed or added.

The fight against illegal mining in Ghana is a fight to protect, not only the present, but the future of this country. It is therefore imperative that the law must be applied to all who fall foul of it, without fear or favour.

Yours in the service of God and Country,

OccupyGhana®

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post OccupyGhana petitions AG over ‘soft charges’ for Aisha Huang, others appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A video circulating on social media, detailed this instance mob justice from last Friday, which saw the mob beat the woman in the streets with some men attempting to insert their feet into her vagina, until she lost consciousness.

[contextly_sidebar id=”hTtKF5Knv96CnMjXKTZQ2FzoeO98VzJH”]The woman was allegedly caught attempting to steal GH¢1,100 from a shop owner in the PZ Area in Adum, Kumasi.

OccupyGhana in a statement said mob justice was “unconstitutional, barbaric, unjust, unfair and criminal and often has fatal consequences. It often ensnares the innocent and deprives law enforcement of the chance to thoroughly investigate cases. Moreover, it denies victims due process and constitutes an abuse of their human rights and violation of their dignity.”

“What this woman went through was clearly a violation of her dignity and self-worth, and no member of that mob had the right to do that to her, regardless of her alleged crime,” the statement added.

“We ask that the police use the video to arrest the men responsible for the abuse of this poor woman. We demand that they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as a deterrent to others.”

The Police administration, since the incident in Kumasi, has said it is employing the use of technology to arrest and prosecute the persons involved.

“The Police has commenced an exercise, employing the use of modern technology, including cameras to arrest and prosecute all persons who take the law into their own hands and exact instant justice,” a statement from the Police Service said.

Find below the full OccupyGhana statement

FEBRUARY 21, 2017

OCCUPYGHANA® PRESS STATEMENT

OCCUPYGHANA CONDEMNS ABUSE OF ALLEDGED LADY CRIMINAL BY MOB IN KUMASI

The attention of OccupyGhana® has been drawn to a video in circulation on social media since Friday, February 17, 2017. It shows a young woman being stripped naked and abused by a mob in Kumasi. The woman was allegedly caught attempting to steal GH¢1,100 from a shop owner in the PZ Area in Adum, Kumasi.

The practice of mob justice is unfortunately a rather dark side of our country’s history and does not seem to want to go away. It is unconstitutional, barbaric, unjust, unfair and criminal, and often has fatal consequences. It often ensnares the innocent and deprives law enforcement of the chance to thoroughly investigate cases. Moreover, it denies victims due process and constitutes an abuse of their human rights and violation of their dignity.

Article 15 of the Constitution demands respect for the dignity of all persons, and clearly states:

1. The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.
2. No person shall, whether or not he is arrested, restricted or retained, be subjected to
3. torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
4. any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from his dignity and worth as a human being.”

What this woman went through was clearly a violation of her dignity and self-worth, and no member of that mob had the right to do that to her, regardless of her alleged crime.

Further, Article19(1) also states:

A person charged with a criminal offence shall be given a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court.

The lady has not been put before any court. And, no court of law would have sentenced her to public stripping and abuse. The alleged crime, stealing, does not merit the ‘punishment’ she received.

Beyond that is also the issue of shaming. Nothing is as demeaning to a woman as being stripped naked and abused publicly. That is the ultimate reduction of the worth of a woman. As a society, we are and should be better than this. We ought to rise above such dark and barbaric practices that sink us all into depravity. Regardless of what factors have led to this practice, it needs to stop.

We ask that the police use the video to arrest the men responsible for the abuse of this poor woman. We demand that they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as a deterrent to others. We appeal to all Ghanaians to respect the individual human rights and dignity of their fellow men and women so that together we can grow this great nation.

Yours, in the perpetual Service for God & Country

OccupyGhana®

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By: Delali Adogla/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Pursue persons who violated Kumasi woman – OccupyGhana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Pressure group, Occupy Ghana, revealed this in a statement after meeting with the newly sworn-in Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo on Wednesday, January 11, 2016.

“The Auditor-General stated that, he intended to establish a special task-force to review all available, previous Audit Reports, and reveal instances where the powers of Disallowance and Surcharge may be applied as a first step to recover lost public funds from offending persons,” the statement added.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xgdIE51DMGGJbhg5a6qSVxTXvjei8Nje”]The pressure group has since November 2015, been on the neck of the Auditor General to recover about GHc40 billion state funds allegedly misappropriated by some public officials.

Several efforts by Occupy Ghana for the Auditor-General to retrieve the monies including initiating court proceedings, have failed to yield any positive result.

Meanwhile, the pressure group in the statement said it is optimistic about the current Auditor-General, and is ready to offer its support to him to succeed in recovering the monies.

“Although this is just one meeting, and although our previous meetings and engagements with the Government and the Auditor-General’s Department were frustrating and did not yield much, we are somehow optimistic that this initial engagement with the new Auditor-General will be a sign of great things to come with respect to Disallowance and Surcharges.”

“If the new Auditor-General is prepared to carry this through, we will pledge our unflinching support to help him achieve this goal,” the statement added.

Below is the full statement:

OCCUPYGHANA® MEETS WITH THE AUDITOR-GENERAL ON DISALLOWANCE AND SURCHARGE

It will be recalled that after months of unproductive engagement with the Auditor-General’s Department and the Government with respect to the demand by OccupyGhana® for the exercise of the powers of Disallowance and Surcharge under article 187 of the Constitution, and sections 18 and 19 of the Audit Service Act, OccupyGhana® was compelled to file an action in the Supreme Court against the Government.

The powers of Disallowance and Surcharge allow the Auditor-General to commence the recovery of public funds that are illegally spent or lost through negligence or misconduct.

These powers have never been exercised by the Auditor-General.

That matter is ripe for hearing.

However, yesterday, 11th January 2017, OccupyGhana® was invited to a meeting with the new Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo.

At that meeting, Mr. Domelevo expressed a desire, not for a continued court fight, but to work with us in the exercise of Disallowance and Surcharge powers.

It turns out that this Auditor-General so believes in the exercise of Disallowance and Surcharge powers by the Auditor-General, that he managed to get the Zambian Government to pass a law, the Public Audit Act, 2016 (No. 29 of 2016), sections 26 and 27 of which are a near-verbatim reproduction of sections 18 and 19 of Ghana’s Audit Service Act.

He bemoaned the fact that although Ghana has had such powerful and far-reaching provisions in both our Constitution and legislation, we have never implemented them, and audit reports have been reduced to a mere “journalistic report of events” with no teeth to bite. Meanwhile other countries were willing to accept those provisions and use them.

He revealed Malawi was also in the process of adopting similar provisions as part of its laws.

The Auditor-General stated that he intended to establish a special task force to review all available, previous Audit Reports, and reveal instances where the powers of Disallowance and Surcharge may be applied as a first step to recover lost public funds from offending persons.

Although this is just one meeting, and although our previous meetings and engagements with the Government and the Auditor-General’s Department were frustrating and did not yield much, we are somehow optimistic that this initial engagement with the new Auditor-General will be a sign of great things to come with respect to Disallowance and Surcharges.

OccupyGhana® will not rest until the day when the first Disallowances and Surcharges are issued by the Auditor-General.

Then we will commence pressure on the office of the Attorney-General to enforce those Surcharges and recover the lost funds. We are convinced that this will be a major way to plug the leakage and wastage in the public sector and ensure that public funds neither line individual pockets nor are treated with reckless abandon; but will be available for use to improve the lives of the citizens of Ghana.

If the new Auditor-General is prepared to carry this through, we will pledge our unflinching support to help him achieve this goal.

Yours, for God and Country,

OccupyGhana®

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post New Auditor General to review audit reports – Occupy Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.